The Harm of What Looking Down at Your Cellphone Does to Your Spine

The technology is both incredible and outrageously scary. Research shows how it is unhealthy to sit all day, but with the Internet boom, many jobs depend on it. Then there cell phones. While the phones were used only to make a call, they were then transformed into smartphones, or mini-computers that provide us instant access to seemingly everything we could want.

This technology undoubtedly affects our habits and our health. Many people lose the ability to hold a conversation, and pay attention for long periods of time. They are using these small screens as a way to escape boredom, human interaction, and more.

Did you know that having eyes on your device is like having a child of eight years old sitting on your head while you’re standing?

When you type a message, read an email or browse the Internet, you exert a pressure of about 60 pounds. An average person spends two to four hours a day in that position.

The above model was developed by Dr. Kenneth K. Hansraj, chief of spinal surgery at New York Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine, and shows how this position exerts great force on the neck and spine.

According to Dr. Hansraj’s notes in his paper, published in the Surgical Technology International, having a good posture involves having your ears aligned with your shoulders and shoulder blades back. This reduces the stress of the body and even decreases the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. However, bad posture puts a lot of stress on the spine and can even lead to surgery.

A quick fix would be to turn off our phone once and for all, but since it is probably not a viable option for many of us, you can try to hold your phone directly in front of you instead of bending your head down. Place your phone at a 30 degree angle when writing to protect your wrists at a right angle if you are reading, and keep your neck backwards rather than forwards.

The consequences of not properly using these types of devices

It disturbs the sleep

A lot of people use their laptop in bed before turning off the light. However, these daily habits affect our sleep. The blue light emitted by the screens of the phones, smartphones, tablets stops the production of melatonin, which is supposed to lead us into the arms of Morpheus. Clearly, after two hours of use of a screen before sleeping, we seriously kill our chances of a good night sleep.

It harms the back

Sending text messages, reading emails, playing video games on the cell phone would amount to a weight of 60 pounds on the neck, the average weight of a 8 year old child. Looking at the screen, the spine is inclined at 60 °. In the short term, this position can cause back problems. Over time, this can lead to wearing off and hence surgery.

It harms the skin

Focusing the sight on the cell screen cause wrinkles. The fact that sometimes the screen is too small to clearly see the photos or little longer texts, forces us to better focus on our devices. This causes wrinkles, crow’s feet and wrinkles under the chin. Similarly, the heat felt on our faces after a long telephone conversation could cause eventual brown spots on the skin.

It damages the eyes

The constant attention demanded by the screens can cause stinging and burning eyes, and headaches. Beatrice Cochener, head of the ophthalmology department of the CHU Brest (and president of the French Academy of Ophthalmology says that staring at the display “doesn’t damage the eyes,” but it causes “overwork fatigue, which is the cause underlying weaknesses. “

It damages the hands

The hands are also stressed when we use our cell phones. “Many young patients now have flexor tendonitis injuries on the fingers, predominantly the thumbs, manifested by pain or blocked finger flexion,” says Dr. Marc Juvenspan. These conditions usually observed in people aged between 40 and 60 are now detected in adolescents.